Plot Synopsis

This 2007 version of Hairspray is a musical based on John Waters' 1988 original non-musical movie of the same name. It is the story of Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), an overweight Baltimore teenager living with her parents, Edna (John Travolta) and Wilbur (Christopher Walken), who dreams of dancing on the local TV teen dance show.

Many will be attracted by the film's huge ensemble cast. Featuring Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Allison Janney and Queen Latifah, there isn't a bad performance among them.

I am not going to rave about the movie, as did our reviewer of the 2-disc edition, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by Hairspray. I approached the film with some trepidation, largely due to the overwhelming cheeriness of the whole affair, only to get right into the spirit of the movie surprisingly quickly. As cheesy as Hairspray is, it is impossible to deny its effectiveness - even on a grouch like myself.

Transfer Quality

Video

The video transfer for this edition is identical to the 2-disc Shake and Shimmy edition, right down to the authoring of the film's layer transition.

The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced. The film makes excellent use of the wide ratio.

The film has a deliberate slight soft focus effect throughout, which is presented perfectly by the transfer. The picture is clear and clean, with no evidence of low level noise or grain. The shadow detail is excellent, particularly in the night street scenes.

The film makes excellent use of colour, from pastel skin tones (which are aided by the film's soft focus) to overwhelmingly bright and cheery sets and costumes

There are no noticeable compression artefacts or film artefacts in the video.

The layer change occurs at 70:29, perfectly placed in the blackout after You're Timeless to Me, and is invisible.

The movie features English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Based on the portion I sampled, they appear to be accurate and well timed.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness

Shadow Detail

Colour

Grain/Pixelization

Film-To-Video Artefacts

Film Artefacts

Overall

Audio

The audio is excellent, although the audio options are not as extensive as the 2-disc edition.

The film features an English 5.1 Dolby Digital EX (448 Kbps) and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 Kbps) audio track.

The dialogue and lyrics are clear and easy to understand. There are no sync issues noticeable.

The music is as cheesy and bouncy as you could imagine, which is perfect for the film. The score is never afraid to get carried away with big instruments and bigger chorus lines - and the film is all the better for it.

Both the surrounds and subwoofer get a great workout from the film's music, as well as incidental effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue

Audio Sync

Clicks/Pops/Dropouts

Surround Channel Use

Subwoofer

Overall

Extras

This single disc edition is not simply a copy of the first disc in the 2-disc Shake and Shimmy edition, it is a completely bare bones disc that contains the feature and an ad for the film's soundtrack.

Put simply, any fan of the movie would be mad to opt for this bare bones edition. Even if they never watch the featurettes, the sing-along mode for the feature is bound to get a run! Only casual viewers need apply here.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view
non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually
also NTSC compatible.

Compared to the equivalent Region 1 bare bones edition, the Region 4 version of this disc misses out on a Spanish subtitles and nothing else.